The 08/17/14 FBC Hammond bulletin is now up at Baptist City.
Deuteronomy 7:19
"Thou shalt not be afraid of them: but shalt well remember what the LORD thy God did unto Pharaoh, and unto all Egypt;"
Fear is an incredible emotion. Fear will cause the strongest to become weak. Fear will cause the staunchest to become unreliable. Fear will cause the best Christian to cower. Fear will cause you to do the opposite of what you would normally do.
We just finished visiting our Sunday School class and stopped off at Walmart to get supplies for class tomorrow and God treated us to a spectacular sunset. The picture does not begin to do it justice!
Numbers 27:21
"And he shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall ask counsel for him after the judgment of Urim before the LORD: at his word shall they go out, and at his word they shall come in, both he, and all the children of Israel with him, even all the congregation."
There is none better to define spiritual leadership than God Himself. In the verse above, God was telling Moses what he was to teach Joshua about leading the children of Israel. Moses knew that his days on this Earth were numbered. God had told Moses to go to the top of Mount Abarim, for it was there where God planned on taking him to Heaven. Because of this, Moses pleaded with God to give him more time to train the next man to lead Israel. God agreed, and appointed Joshua as the next leader.
Number 14:24
"But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it."
There are people in life who make a difference in their world, and one of the reasons they make a difference is because of their spirit. Their spirit is not like the average that is controlled by outside circumstances, but they have another spirit that is vibrant and inspiring to those whom they are around. You can't miss these people. When they walk in the room there is something different about them. Their spirit causes the spirit of the room to lighten up. Their spirit brightens the day of those whom they encounter. This world is in need of people with another spirit.
Numbers 9:17
"And when the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, then after that the children of Israel journeyed: and in the place where the cloud abode, there the children of Israel pitched their tents."
We hear much about everything being in the cloud. Technology is now storing data in the cloud. Whenever you turn your phone on and update something, it is updated on your computer through the cloud. Cloud computing is certainly the technology of the day.
Leviticus 20:22
"Ye shall therefore keep all my statutes, and all my judgments, and do them: that the land, whither I bring you to dwell therein, spue you not out."
Once a summer, my family would go to the cucumber field to pick cucumbers so that my mom could make pickles for the year. Once we got home, my mother began the process of making pickles. The process of preserving those pickles was arduous, but it kept them fresh for the family throughout the year. We had to follow a recipe and process to make sure those pickles didn't spoil. We wanted the taste of those pickles to be what we originally made them to be.
Leviticus 15:31
"Thus shall ye separate the children of Israel from their uncleanness; that they die not in their uncleanness, when they defile my tabernacle that is among them."
After a long day of playing, I used to run into the house with my face and hands dirty only to hear my mother say, "Son, go get yourself cleaned up." As a young boy, I didn't think I was that dirty. I would go into the bathroom and wash what I thought was dirty, then go into the dining room to eat supper. My mother would look at me and say, "Son, I told you to clean up." She then took me back into the bathroom and grabbed the washrag and cleaned the back of my neck and behind my ears. She wanted me to be clean before I ate my supper.